Most of you have heard me talk some about how I really don't fit the media stereotype of the heart attack survivor—the most obvious thing being that I'm not a 60-70 year old, type A personality male. I'm a 42-year old woman (40 when the heart attack happened) who doesn't have high blood pressure, doesn't smoke, isn't diabetic and doesn't have clogged arteries. I'm overweight but had been dieting and exercising for several months and taken off around 20 pounds when I woke up that morning with crushing chest pain.
I'm also unusual in the heart disease community because I'm, well, let's face it: I'm a geek. I'm a nerd. I was the kid in high school who was in the AP/advanced classes. I took one of the first computer processing classes offered at my high school (on TRS-80s, no less)—we spent a semester on BASIC, then spent a quarter split into small groups to write a program in COBOL. When my world history teacher did review sessions at the end of the semester and gave extra credit for correctly-answered questions, he wouldn't let me play—said it would skew his grading curve too badly. I wear glasses.
I have volunteered at and run science fiction conventions in my home town. I play role-playing games (Champions/Hero System, if you must know). I love Star Trek, Babylon 5, Futurama, Firefly/Serenity, Farscape, the new Battlestar Galactica, and more. My favorite authors write series you've probably never heard of: Honor Harrington, Skolian saga, Saint Germain chronicles, Deryni series, Liaden universe, Technic civilization. At my day-job, I work for a science fiction publisher. I read comics and love comic-book characters, with Batman being a particular favorite.
My husband and I spent Labor Day weekend congregating with our tribe, our people, our fellow geeks and nerds. Maybe you've heard of San Diego Comic Con? The event we attended this past weekend is similar, but is run by a hardworking corps of volunteers and takes place in Atlanta every year: Dragon*Con.
Some people jokingly call it "Nerdi Gras," and that's as good a quick description as any. You'll find people of all shapes and sizes in costumes of all types, from cartoon characters to the latest sf TV shows—one family came as the characters from Scooby Doo, someone else dressed up as the Witch King from Lord of the Rings, there were several Batmans and Supermans, and the group that won the Sunday night masquerade did steampunk versions of the X-Men. Lots of people, including me, have no talent at costuming; we just wear comfortable clothes and admire the skill and chutzpah of the people who do take the time to dress up.
There are 37 tracks of programming, so there's always something to do—usually two or three things are happening at once and you want to go to all of them, so you have to make hard choices: Jim Butcher autograph session, or discussion on the lasting impact of H.P. Lovecraft, or Q&A with the cast of Firefly?
Somewhere around 50,000 people streamed into downtown Atlanta to take part in the con (short for "convention," not "con game"), and I do mean "take part," because the people become part of the experience—via costumes, via interacting with panelists, meeting fellow fans while waiting in line, hosting or attending parties, taking pictures. It's an interactive experience. Wear comfortable shoes.
If you're at all crowd-phobic, you may need to take steps to make sure that you can fully enjoy your weekend at Dragon*Con. The public areas of the hotels hosting the Dealers' rooms—where you'll find everything for sale from leather corsets to T-shirts with snarky sayings to dice in all colors, shapes and sizes—and large events like concerts and some of the really popular panels turn into wall-to-wall people, especially on Saturday.
As a short woman who apparently projects an invisibility shield, people were bumping into me, stepping on me, and cutting me off all weekend. Even when my 6' husband was holding my hand, we'd still get separated. It seriously made me wish I had a taser.
That said, once I'd fought my way through the crowds, ultimately I enjoyed whatever event or panel I went to.
Then the bruises started showing up.
This is the legacy of having a heart attack: taking Plavix and a full-strength aspirin every day. Sometimes a bruise shows up and I know exactly what happened. "Oh, I banged my shin on the coffee table last night in the dark." Other times, a bruise'll appear and I'll have no idea what I did; maybe someone looked at me cross-eyed.
Most of the ones incurred from the full-contact sport of getting from place to place at Dragon*Con aren't visible; they're on my legs and feet, with one on the last two knuckles of my right hand that falls into the "I have no IDEA where that came from" category.
If you're on blood thinners, arnica gel is your friend. It really does help the bruises fade faster. It won't disguise them if you're self-conscious about them where they show (next post: why Capri pants and 3/4-sleeve shirts are a Plavix-girl's friend), but they will disappear quicker than they would otherwise. I spent time every morning and evening at D*C putting arnica on my battle-scars.
As a heart disease patient, I also modify the standard travel-size emergency kit to include a list of current meds, emergency contact info, nitro pills and baby aspirin, and of course my trusty tube of arnica gel. You can get it at most organic food co-ops and also places like Whole Foods.
This is a good time for me to remind people to get and wear a medical ID of some sort—bracelet, necklace, there are a TON of options in every style, color, and price range, and there's no excuse to not wear one. Many times at Dragon*Con, my husband and I were attending different events in different hotels. Depending on your carrier, cell phone reception in the various host hotels ranged from OK to decent to horrible. If something had happened to me, it would have taken some doing to track him down, but thankfully I was always wearing my medical ID bracelet.
One thing that happened over the weekend that meant a lot to me was getting to meet Kevin Sorbo. If you don't know his work, he's an actor who played Hercules in the show Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, and Xena: Warrior Princess, as well as Capt. Dylan Hunt in Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda.
Right after my heart attack, I was, to put it mildly, freaked out and scared. The heart attack was in late March and my birthday is in early May; for my birthday that year I received a lot of Amazon.com gift certificates. I pooled them together and bought the box set of Hercules.
I was only out of work for a couple of weeks, then it was back in the saddle, and I started up cardiac rehab a few weeks after getting out of the hospital.
It was wonderful to come home in the evenings and be able to put on an episode of Hercules and get transported to another place and time for awhile and not have to think about what had happened to me. Not have to look at the scar on my wrist where they stuck an arterial line my third night in the hospital. Not sitting at the computer reading scary statistics about spontaneous dissections. Having a little bit of time where I didn't have to remember that my life had changed forever and I could never go back to the way things used to be.
An author friend who'd met Kevin at a previous convention offered to introduce me, and since I get so tongue-tied around people, I accepted. While we waited for him to show up at his table, Tim and his wife Anna took me around and introduced me to some of the other Dragon*Con guests at the Walk of Fame: Peter Mayhew, Raelee Hill, Claudia Christian, and then... Kevin Sorbo.
After they introduced me, I bought a photo and got it autographed—then got incoherent and weepy. I think I managed to get out "Thanks... box set Hercules... helped me through a really scary time of my life... heart attack... freaked out... thanks for the entertainment and distraction..." He was really sweet and gave me a hug. I'm tearing up a little now just writing about it. I just wanted to make sure he knew that I appreciated him and the show and what it meant to me.
The con could have ended right after that, and I would have counted it as a win. But there was still another day's worth of entertainment, including having dinner with a friend and watching the Masquerade (a costume contest) from the comfort of our hotel room. One thing that Dragon*Con does is to have some of the larger, more popular events broadcast to the TVs in the host hotels, over a private channel called D*CTV (Dragon*Con TV). So sometimes you don't have to fight through the crowds to see your favorite events.
All in all, it was a great weekend full of memories that I'll carry with me for a lifetime.
Having heart disease doesn't mean you stop enjoying life; it means you take a few precautions and get out there and keep living.
Showing posts with label hospitalization. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hospitalization. Show all posts
Friday, September 10, 2010
Thursday, April 30, 2009
One month ago today
One month ago today, Paul and I were sitting in the emergency room at UNC Hospitals, wondering what the hell just happened. It would be almost 12 hours more before we would find out for sure that I'd had a heart attack, and it'll be a month tomorrow that they did the cardiac catheterization and found the tear and the SCAD and put the stents in.
Not surprisingly, I'm having a few anxiety twinges this morning. I've already done a meditation/relaxation CD and had my morning devotional and prayer time.
At some point, I'm sure the heart attack won't loom so large; it'll no longer be one of the first things I think about upon waking and one of the last things I think about before going to sleep.
I'll eventually get back to a point where I'll take for granted that I'll wake up the next morning.
There are new challenges now. A low-sodium diet for one. Remembering to take a lot of pills is another. Working on improving my stress management skills so that people and situations don't get the best of me. Finding my new limits while trying not to feel limited, if that makes sense. Making time to see friends and family.
Still trying to make sense of it all. SCADs are so rare and so random, I haven't really started too far down the path of "Why me???" because there's no good answer, physically OR spiritually.
Physically, it's "idiopathic," which is medical jargon for "we have *no* fucking clue." Which brings us back to why me, then? Dunno. Bad luck.
Spiritually, I have to ask: Did the hand of God come down and rip my right coronary artery apart to punish me? Dude, the worst thing I ever did was some petty shoplifting when I was, like 12. There are serial killers on the loose. Which brings us back around to why me? If God/dess had no hand in it, then it was truly random, bad luck.
There are lessons here, yes. This has been a big, spiritual and physical shake-up. I'm eating healthier. And while my triathlon training has been sidetracked, I'm slowly getting back into an exercise plan.
And I'm trying to remember to say "Thank you" and "I love you" to people in my life. That includes all of you (still) reading this. Regardless of when or how we met, or whether we know each other in real life or just online, thank you for being here.
Not surprisingly, I'm having a few anxiety twinges this morning. I've already done a meditation/relaxation CD and had my morning devotional and prayer time.
At some point, I'm sure the heart attack won't loom so large; it'll no longer be one of the first things I think about upon waking and one of the last things I think about before going to sleep.
I'll eventually get back to a point where I'll take for granted that I'll wake up the next morning.
There are new challenges now. A low-sodium diet for one. Remembering to take a lot of pills is another. Working on improving my stress management skills so that people and situations don't get the best of me. Finding my new limits while trying not to feel limited, if that makes sense. Making time to see friends and family.
Still trying to make sense of it all. SCADs are so rare and so random, I haven't really started too far down the path of "Why me???" because there's no good answer, physically OR spiritually.
Physically, it's "idiopathic," which is medical jargon for "we have *no* fucking clue." Which brings us back to why me, then? Dunno. Bad luck.
Spiritually, I have to ask: Did the hand of God come down and rip my right coronary artery apart to punish me? Dude, the worst thing I ever did was some petty shoplifting when I was, like 12. There are serial killers on the loose. Which brings us back around to why me? If God/dess had no hand in it, then it was truly random, bad luck.
There are lessons here, yes. This has been a big, spiritual and physical shake-up. I'm eating healthier. And while my triathlon training has been sidetracked, I'm slowly getting back into an exercise plan.
And I'm trying to remember to say "Thank you" and "I love you" to people in my life. That includes all of you (still) reading this. Regardless of when or how we met, or whether we know each other in real life or just online, thank you for being here.
Friday, April 17, 2009
The "hospital food" diet plan
Whether it was from almost a week of icky hospital food or what, I'm down another few pounds; so far since I started in August 2008 I've removed 21 pounds total. I still have a lot of work to do, but this is a big milestone for me, and I'm pleased to have gotten here.
Also this morning was my orientation session for cardiac rehab at Meadowmont. It's a very nice facility, comparable to the gym I've been going to since August, Duke Health & Fitness. The cardiac rehab program is 36 sessions, roughly 3 months. There's a lot of careful monitoring involved, a cardiologist always on site, etc. Next week is my stress test and educational classes, and I start the exercise program in earnest on May 11th.
Also this morning was my orientation session for cardiac rehab at Meadowmont. It's a very nice facility, comparable to the gym I've been going to since August, Duke Health & Fitness. The cardiac rehab program is 36 sessions, roughly 3 months. There's a lot of careful monitoring involved, a cardiologist always on site, etc. Next week is my stress test and educational classes, and I start the exercise program in earnest on May 11th.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Gah, the Internet is both blessing and curse
Last night I spent a lot of time researching the particular make and model of the stents I have. Turns out that the ones they installed--the Xience V--are pretty much the top of the line. There are no studies going out past three years, but for those three years, these stents perform better than any of the others on the market. So that's all reassuring.
Moving on to research topic #2, I discovered that 70% of spontaneous coronary artery dissections are only discovered on autopsy. That wigged me out. I had to get off the computer at that point and go collect lots of hugs and kisses from Paul before I could stop being freaked out enough to go to bed.
In other news, it has been suggested that nail polish remover might suffice to get all the @^$%#$ tape residue off, from all the heart monitor sensors, various ekgs, assorted iv lines that were taped down on my arms and neck, etc. Perhaps I will go try that now.
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Moving on to research topic #2, I discovered that 70% of spontaneous coronary artery dissections are only discovered on autopsy. That wigged me out. I had to get off the computer at that point and go collect lots of hugs and kisses from Paul before I could stop being freaked out enough to go to bed.
In other news, it has been suggested that nail polish remover might suffice to get all the @^$%#$ tape residue off, from all the heart monitor sensors, various ekgs, assorted iv lines that were taped down on my arms and neck, etc. Perhaps I will go try that now.
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Monday, April 6, 2009
And back home again, again
Got home around 6. Napped, just finished supper. Basically, all my tests were fine, heart enzymes are still appropriately trending downward, it's just, as suspected, slight loss of some lung function due to being bedridden for nearly a week. Now that they've given me the lung-exercizer thingy that one of the docs as much as admitted to Paul that they should have sent home with me the first time around, we expect everything to be OK.
Thanks again for all the support and for listening to me vent. :)
Now it's Paul's turn: we got home, he reached for a couple of SweetTarts and promptly broke a tooth on one. :/
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Thanks again for all the support and for listening to me vent. :)
Now it's Paul's turn: we got home, he reached for a couple of SweetTarts and promptly broke a tooth on one. :/
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One step forward, one step back
So, I'm back in the hospital.
Sigh.
Much as I really, really, REALLY didn't want to admit it, late last night I had to confess to Paul that I was having trouble occasionally getting a full breath. And that's one of the red flags that we've been told to watch for, so at roughly 11:30pm last night, we packed ourselves into the car and drove back to UNC Hospitals for another round of EKGs, blood draws, and endless waiting.
I'm not in the ICU; I'm just in a room in the regular unit.
The other good news is that pending a 1pm-ish blood draw result, we'll be able to go home.
My cardiologists don't think we were silly to come in. OTOH, they're pretty sure that what happened to me is a fairly common side effect of being laid up in bed for the better part of a week: a very small part of my lower left lung has slightly collapsed--they even have a special breathing exercise device that they usually send home with open-heart surgery patients to help prevent this exact thing, but they apparently didn't think to give me one because my surgery was all done through the leg cath.
The general feeling is better to be safe than sorry, and this is all new territory for Paul and me, as we're learning a whole new standard of what's "normal" for me. :/
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Sigh.
Much as I really, really, REALLY didn't want to admit it, late last night I had to confess to Paul that I was having trouble occasionally getting a full breath. And that's one of the red flags that we've been told to watch for, so at roughly 11:30pm last night, we packed ourselves into the car and drove back to UNC Hospitals for another round of EKGs, blood draws, and endless waiting.
I'm not in the ICU; I'm just in a room in the regular unit.
The other good news is that pending a 1pm-ish blood draw result, we'll be able to go home.
My cardiologists don't think we were silly to come in. OTOH, they're pretty sure that what happened to me is a fairly common side effect of being laid up in bed for the better part of a week: a very small part of my lower left lung has slightly collapsed--they even have a special breathing exercise device that they usually send home with open-heart surgery patients to help prevent this exact thing, but they apparently didn't think to give me one because my surgery was all done through the leg cath.
The general feeling is better to be safe than sorry, and this is all new territory for Paul and me, as we're learning a whole new standard of what's "normal" for me. :/
Next | Previous
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Home, Yay!
I'm home, I'm home, I'm home!!!
Thank you all so much for your prayers, well wishes, lit candles, positive thoughts, etc. They meant the world to Paul and me both. It was such a thrill to sleep in our own bed, beside Paul, uninterrupted for 10 hours straight last night. Being home with him and the cats is a wonderful restorative.
Here's an amusing tidbit from the past few days: you know you're in a hospital in the South when they serve you *fried chicken* in the cardiac ICU.
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Thank you all so much for your prayers, well wishes, lit candles, positive thoughts, etc. They meant the world to Paul and me both. It was such a thrill to sleep in our own bed, beside Paul, uninterrupted for 10 hours straight last night. Being home with him and the cats is a wonderful restorative.
Here's an amusing tidbit from the past few days: you know you're in a hospital in the South when they serve you *fried chicken* in the cardiac ICU.
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Saturday, April 4, 2009
Paul: Laura Update - Waiting for the Doctor sucks
Waiting for the doctor--will we be home before the UNC men's semifinal NCAA basketball game?
http://paulcory.livejournal.com/149697.html
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http://paulcory.livejournal.com/149697.html
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Friday, April 3, 2009
My recent escapades
Most of you already know, thanks to Paul's regular updates to his blog, but for those who don't know: I had a heart attack on Monday morning. No, this isn't a late April Fool's joke; I wish it were.
Details on Paul's blog, starting here: http://paulcory.livejournal.com/146142.html
We appreciate all the comments, prayers, good thoughts, etc that people have been sending. this is my first time online since this all started Monday, but Paul has been reading people's comments to me and they really do help lift my spirits. If all goes well, I'll be moved from the cardiac ICU today and into a regular room, then maybe home tomorrow. Thanks again to all of you, and I'll post again as my energy level permits.
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Details on Paul's blog, starting here: http://paulcory.livejournal.com/146142.html
We appreciate all the comments, prayers, good thoughts, etc that people have been sending. this is my first time online since this all started Monday, but Paul has been reading people's comments to me and they really do help lift my spirits. If all goes well, I'll be moved from the cardiac ICU today and into a regular room, then maybe home tomorrow. Thanks again to all of you, and I'll post again as my energy level permits.
Next | Previous
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Paul: Laura Update - How Low Can it Go?
Post-cath blood pressure through the floor:
http://paulcory.livejournal.com/147587.html
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http://paulcory.livejournal.com/147587.html
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Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Monday, March 30, 2009
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